Claudia Moore Field with friends including, left, her signature Great Blue Heron crafted in copper, aluminum, and wire.
Photo by Jack Robert
The discovery of fire 420 million years ago — give or take a few centuries — changed the world. Sculptor Claudia Moore Field might say the element still has the power to spark joy.
“When I went from using a soldering iron to using a torch with flame and saw the speed with which I could connect metal to metal, I was literally dancing with joy in my studio,” she recalls. “It was like I discovered fire.”
Well before Field turned the heat on, her mediums of choice were far less inflammatory. “As far back as I can remember, I loved to draw pictures and every birthday and Christmas gift I received was colored pencil[s], markers, and paints.”
Unsure if visual art was a viable vocation, she trained and was licensed as a hair stylist, a job she continued until she moved to New Hampshire and began having children — ultimately five. It was then that she returned to painting as something she could do at home. “I would set everything up in the dining room to paint, then pull it apart and put it away to serve dinner. You do what you have to do in order to do what you want to do.”
A friend who was a home sales representative for Longaberger baskets referred Field to purchasers who wanted their baskets personalized. “I would paint the lids of the baskets and word got around,” she explains. “I started getting commissions to do welcome signs for people’s homes, pet portraits, business signs.
In September 1995, the family left New England winters for New Bern, NC, and Field began building a new clientele while pursuing her own painting. Ten years ago, Field made two more dramatic life changes — she and her husband Andy moved to Asheville to be closer to two of their five children and first grandchild, and she made a radical shift in mediums.
“Moving to an art mecca was so inspiring. I saw some wire trees in a little shop and was intrigued. I purchased some floral wire to play with and made some trees for my kids.”
Friends and neighbors who saw the pieces wanted one for themselves, so Field got serious, purchased a spool of aluminum wire and jewelers’ tools, and started building a bear head. “That was the beginning of the sculptural aspect of what I do.”
Seeking to express the beauty of the wildlife around her, she added copper and aluminum sheeting to her sculptures. “I start with research and a drawing, then build an armature or skeleton with wire. I cut out copper sheeting for the ‘skin’ and lay that on; then, if it’s a bird, cut out the feathers and solder each one on with flame.”
She met artist/gallery owner Philip DeAngelo at church, and not only is her work in his gallery, but she credits him as a mentor. “He always challenges me. I think if you want to grow, you should surround yourself with people who push you to do more.”
Claudia Moore Field, Asheville. Field’s work is carried at Woolworth Walk (25 Haywood St., downtown, woolworthwalk.com) and at Philip DeAngelo Studio & Gallery (115 Roberts St. in the Wedge Building, River Arts District). See @claudiamoorefieldart on IG and Facebook for more information, and also riverartsdistrict.com/artist/claudia-moore-field.